Melmoth the Wanderer · Chapter
Chapter X explained
Monçada awakens in a new, stark cell after months of unconsciousness, his memory returning with crushing force as he recalls his brother Juan's death.
What happens
Monçada awakens in a new, stark cell after months of unconsciousness, his memory returning with crushing force as he recalls his brother Juan's death. He is confronted by a figure who accuses him of being a traitor and murderer, while Monçada in turn denounces the figure's hypocrisy and cruelty. The chapter culminates in the revelation that Monçada is now imprisoned in the Inquisition.
Themes in this chapter
Suffering and Oppression
Monçada's physical and psychological torment is depicted through his months of unconsciousness, the shock of memory, and the revelation of his imprisonment in the Inquisition.
Isolation and Alienation
Monçada is isolated in a windowless cell, surrounded by silence and cut off from the world, while his accuser's betrayal deepens his alienation.
Temptation and Faith
Fra Paolo's manipulation of religious rituals and his diabolical smile evoke themes of false faith and the temptation to despair.
Characters to notice
- Juan di Monçada
Narrates his awakening and confrontation; recalls his brother Juan's death and his own despair.
- Fra Paolo
Accuses Monçada of treachery and murder; reveals his own role in the plot and the Superior's machinations.
Key passages
“One wild moment of yelling agony—one flash of a fierce and fiery light, that seemed to envelop and wither me soul and body—one sound, that swept through my ears and brain like the last trumpet, as it will thrill on the senses of those who slept in guilt, and awake in despair—one such moment, that condenses and crowds all imaginable sufferings in one brief and intense pang, and appears exhausted itself by the blow it has struck—one such moment I remember, and no more.”
Monçada recalls a single, overwhelming instant of agony and light that felt like a final judgment, compressing all possible suffering into one intense flash.
Describes the traumatic moment that preceded his months of unconsciousness.
“You are a thousand times more culpable than I am, guilty as you think me. I stand a blasted tree—I am struck to the heart, to the root—I wither alone—but you are the Upas, under whose poisonous droppings all things living have perished—father—mother—brother, and last yourself;—the erosions of the poison, having nothing left to consume, strike inward, and prey on your own heart.”
Monçada tells his accuser that while he himself is a ruined individual, the accuser is a poison that has destroyed his entire family and now consumes itself.
Monçada's bitter accusation against Fra Paolo, comparing him to the deadly Upas tree.
“You are in the prison of the Inquisition.”
Fra Paolo reveals that Monçada is now held in the Inquisition's dungeon.
Climactic revelation of Monçada's new and more terrifying imprisonment.